In one conventional computing arrangement, a client and a server include respective network interface controllers (NIC) that are capable of communicating with each other using a Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) protocol. The server includes a host processor that executes the server's operating system and associated drivers. The server also includes a storage controller that manages the server's storage. The client's NIC issues requests to the server's NIC to write data to and read data from the storage. The server's operating system, associated drivers, and host processor process the requests received by the server's NIC, and issues corresponding requests to the storage controller. The storage controller receives and executes these corresponding requests. After executing the corresponding requests, the storage controller issues request completion information (and associated data if data has been read from the storage) to the server's operating system and associated drivers. From this, the server's operating system, associated drivers, and host processor generate corresponding request completion information and associated data, and issue the corresponding request completion information and associated data to the server's NIC. The server's NIC then issues the corresponding request completion information and associated data to the client's NIC.
Thus, in the foregoing conventional arrangement, the server's operating system, associated drivers, and host processor process requests received by the server's NIC, and the completion information and data from the storage. This consumes substantial amounts of operating system and host processor processing bandwidth. It also increases the amount of energy consumed and heat dissipated by the host processor. Furthermore, it increases the latency involved in processing the requests issued by the client's NIC.
Although the following Detailed Description will proceed with reference being made to illustrative embodiments, many alternatives, modifications, and variations thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, it is intended that the claimed subject matter be viewed broadly.